1. Field
This disclosure relates to a vehicle and method for intercepting and destroying ballistic missile re-entry vehicles and other targets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems for intercepting ballistic missile threats typically reply on a kinetic kill vehicle (KKV), also termed a “hit-to-kill” vehicle, to destroy the threat re-entry vehicle by way of physical collision. A missile carrying the KKV, or a plurality of KKVs, is launched to the place the KKV in a position proximate the trajectory of the target re-entry vehicle. The KKV then detects and tracks the target vehicle and navigates to attempt to physically collide with the target. Exemplary KKV development programs include the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), the Lightweight Exoatmospheric Projectile (LEAP), and the Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV).
KKVs are designed to intercept and destroy the target re-entry vehicle during the mid-course phase of the re-entry vehicle flight. The interception may occur above the earth's atmosphere at altitudes in excess of 100 miles. The combined speed of the KKV and the target re-entry vehicle may approach 15,000 miles per hour, or over 20,000 feet per second, such that a collision between the KKV and the re-entry vehicle will severely damage or destroy the re-entry vehicle. Given the high speeds of both vehicles, the KKV typically attempts to maneuver to assume a trajectory that is a reciprocal of the trajectory of the target re-entry vehicle, which is to say that the kill vehicle and target re-entry vehicles are traveling on the same or nearly the same trajectory in opposing directions. In reality, the kill vehicle will deviate from the desired reciprocal trajectory by an error amount, commonly termed the CEP or circular error probable. The CEP is defined as the radius of a circle about the desired trajectory that would contain the kill vehicle 50% of the time. A normal distribution of the vehicle navigation errors is commonly assumed, such that the kill vehicle will be within a circle having a radius of twice the CEP 93% of the time and within a circle having a radius of three times the CEP more than 99% of the time. Given the relatively small sizes of the hit-to-kill vehicle and the target re-entry vehicle and the extreme closing speed, the CEP of the KKV may need to be less than a fraction of a meter to provide a high probability of colliding with the target re-entry vehicle. These extremely precise navigational requirements complicate the design and raise the cost of the ballistic missile defense systems presently in development.
Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having a reference designator with the same least significant digits.